Jealousy
by My-Crazy-Awesome-Sox
Summary: Olivia deals with an emotion she's not entirely sure she's ever felt before. Since when did Peter and Rachel become friends? Tag for episode 1.16 "Unleashed"
1. Olivia

**A/N:** So apparently I'm on a roll. Third story in, what, two weeks? I love Peter and Olivia so much lol. So I just love these two little scenes in 1.16 "Unleashed" that show the progressing of their relationship. I know it irks some people how the Peter/Rachel thing was never resolved on screen, but here is what I think is going on in their heads to lead to that. I'll probably be posting another short oneshot running along the same headcanon sometime soon. Happy reading!

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Olivia Dunham was a stone wall. She was an emotional person, sure. Happiness was a treat to be reveled in, joy a goal to forever work toward, fear, anger, sadness to be used to push herself beyond what she thought she could do. She _used_ her emotions to be a better agent, a better person.

But Olivia Dunham did not get jealous.

It was a useless emotion. Petty. And Olivia was not a petty person. She surrounded herself with people she trusted and prided herself in knowing that she was just as important to them as they were to her.

So, of course, this whole thing was ridiculous.

It was a phone call, nothing more. She should be happy that two of the most important people in her life were getting along. They may even be good for each other. Rachel could give Peter a reason to want to stay in one place other than taking care of his father. Peter would take care of Rachel and Ella in ways Greg never had.

So why then did she feel almost nauseous listening to her sister laughing on the phone (on _her_ phone) with a man Olivia was beginning to think of as her best friend?

Peter had sounded so casual when she'd answered the phone. And as soon as she realized it was a social call and not another case, or something to do with Walter, Olivia had felt her heart lighten and the beginnings of affectionate warmth spreading through her body. They were friends. He was calling her at home as a friend. And it made Olivia happy.

Until he'd said he was actually calling to talk to Rachel.

The light and the warmth died into confusion and something she did not want to name. She, of course, acted like it was no big deal. It wasn't. It was her best friend calling to talk to her sister. But that was just it. He was _her_ best friend. And he was calling to talk to her _sister_. And they were laughing like _they_ were the ones who were close. Hadn't they only met once? She almost never had casual conversations with Peter that involved that much laughing. It was always emotional baggage, trauma, death, gore, the weird and nearly inexplicable. If they laughed together it was about some offhand comment or sarcastic bantering trying to keep themselves from drowning under the weight of what they knew. They'd never just had fun together. For heaven's sake, until a minute ago she'd assumed the only reason he'd call her out of the blue was if it was an emergency. Did that mean they _weren't_ close friends?

Damn it. Now she felt left out _and _insecure.

But Ella wanted her to continue the story. It was fine. It didn't matter. She could shove it in a box in the back of her mind until later. The only thing more useless than jealousy was wallowing in it.


	2. Rachel

Olivia Dunham was a stone wall. Had been as far back as Rachel could remember. If the emotion wasn't useful, her big sister did away with it, ensuring she always had a clear head. Rachel couldn't remember how many times that fact had pissed her off growing up. She'd been eleven when their mother had died and they went to live with Aunt Missy who, while loving, was never really there. Olivia took up the mantel of caretaker a bit too quickly and a bit too smoothly when all Rachel wanted was her sister. Despite that, they'd always been close and Rachel knew every emotion that Olivia let herself feel.

Jealousy was not one of them.

She noticed the confused pause and slight incredulity Olivia had failed to keep from her voice before handing the phone over, but hadn't thought much of it. It wasn't until after she'd hung up with Peter that she started piecing together what was going on. The sidelong glances, the air of unasked questions in the tension of on her movements. It reminded Rachel of when she'd come home far passed curfew and Olivia was trying very hard to be a sister instead of a mother. A very strong suspicion began forming in Rachel's head as she watched Olivia pretend to relax on the couch sipping from a wineglass.

Peter hadn't told her.

A couple of weeks after she'd first met her sister's charming colleague, she'd ran into Peter at a local bar and they'd ended up hanging out for a while. It was fun. He was gentle and funny and she'd let herself flirt like she was back in high school. She wasn't sure if she wanted to start something so soon after she'd left Greg, but it was certainly a welcome distraction. He'd asked for a couple of childhood stories about Liv and they'd gotten tipsy enough to start singing along to the songs that were playing in the bar laughing at stories the songs reminded them of. Olivia hadn't said anything so Rachel hadn't thought anything of it. But now it was becoming clear that her big sister hadn't known about the beginnings of friendship between her sister and her work partner. And it was obvious that it bothered Olivia at least a little bit.

Was he stupid?

If it bothered her sister enough that she let it show, then obviously Liv wasn't telling her everything. Or more likely wasn't admitting everything even to herself. She thought she knew Peter at least well enough to decide he wasn't trying to be insensitive, so Rachel chalked it up to male stupidity.

Olivia liked him.

It had been a long time since Rachel had seen Olivia warming up to a guy like that. And after what she'd told her about John, well, this was something Rachel did not mind letting her sister have. Liv had taken such good care of her growing up, and now with letting her and her four year old daughter invade her home and her life no matter how often she said she didn't mind in the least… Olivia had made too many sacrifices for her over the years. The least Rachel could do was not get in the way of whatever it was forming between her and Peter.


	3. Peter

Olivia Dunham was not as stoic as she tried to be. She was strong and independent and played her personal emotions close to the vest, sure. But if you really watched her, saw her for more than what she showed the world, and had an IQ of 190, you could eventually find the chinks in her armor. Reading people is what he did. And after the first time she'd blown that ability he'd been so confident in out of the water, he'd made sure to watch her far closer. And he was vain enough to say that it had paid off. There was little she could get buy him now and he was proud to admit that after nearly seven months of working together, she was starting to show him more on her own.

There was something odd he heard in her voice on the phone.

At first he was a little offended. What? He could only call her if there was something wrong? But he shrugged it off and thought that maybe she was having some quality time with her sister and niece and had just caught her at the wrong moment. She'd definitely relaxed, though, when he'd assured her there was no emergency. And then she'd hesitated and let out that slightly incredulous "oh" when he'd asked to talk to Rachel.

What was that about?

He'd pushed it aside during his conversation with the more bubbly Dunham, but stared at his phone as soon as he'd hung up with her. It'd almost sounded like Olivia was…not hurt, but maybe a bit indignant that he'd not called to talk to her. It was so quick though, and so small, he could hardly be sure. Had Rachel not told her about their night at the bar? She hadn't said anything about it and he hadn't thought to. It had been a long time since he'd felt the need to let anyone know what he was doing with his personal life. He'd decided to shrug it off and continue on his way.

Until the next day when he'd walked into the back office in the lab.

She'd been sitting there looking over reports trying to find a lead for near on two hours when he'd came in for a refill on his coffee. As often as he watched her, he'd never quite seen her stare at him quite so openly. As if she wanted to ask him something but stopped herself. Well he couldn't let that go. She tried to brush off her curiosity but back tracked almost immediately. It came out more as an accusation than a question until she softened it with slight concern. That caught his interest, but he decided to bide his time to test the waters.

"So you two are friends now?"

Gotcha. She'd tried to hide it with a teasing tone, but there was definitely something forced about it. That and all of the other little clues he'd gotten from her confirmed it in his mind. She was jealous. He'd never seen her colored that way before, but there was no denying it. Olivia Dunham was jealous that he's been hanging out with her sister. His heart rate picked up and he felt himself smiling before he could stop himself. The implications of what that might mean sent the warmth of affection and pleasure diffusing though his body. Well this _was_ interesting.

"Does that bother you?"

He _was_ teasing. Poking at her to admit what he'd already figured out. Her voice said one thing, but her eyes, still focused on him, were hardly even guarded. He couldn't keep his grin under control and used his refreshed coffee to try and keep him from laughing in near glee. Charlie's call signaled that they were back on the case, but this was definitely information he would be filing away for later.

He hoped Rachel wouldn't take it too hard when he told her they wouldn't be hanging out just the two of them anymore.


End file.
